Cyber Insurance
Defend your business from data breaches, cyber attacks, and digital risk.
Cyber insurance can cover the fallout when your business is hit by a data breach or cyber attack: the cost of responding and telling affected customers, ransomware demands, income lost while you are down, getting your data back, and the claims and legal costs that follow.
Businesses run on technology, which also makes them a target. A data breach or cyber attack can expose customer information, shut down your operations, and land you in legal trouble almost overnight. Cyber insurance helps cover the financial and reputational damage and gives you a team to lean on when something goes wrong.
Who Should Consider Cyber Insurance?
If your business handles any sensitive information on a computer, you are at risk. The question is not whether something will happen, but when.
- Businesses that handle customer payment or banking information
- Organizations that store personal information like Social Insurance Numbers, addresses, or health records
- Companies that sell or operate online
- Professional firms that hold confidential client information
- Any business that depends on its computers to get through the day
What can be covered?
Responding to a Breach
Can cover the cost of finding out what happened, telling affected customers, credit monitoring, legal help, and identity protection for those affected.
Lost Income
Can replace income you lose and the extra costs you take on when an attack disrupts your operations.
Ransomware & Extortion
Can respond when criminals lock up your data or systems and demand payment to release them.
Legal & Government Costs
Can cover legal fees and the cost of dealing with regulators after an incident.
Claims From Others
Can cover claims from clients or partners affected by a breach that started in your systems.
Getting Your Data Back
Can cover the cost of recovering, restoring, or rebuilding data that was lost or scrambled in an incident.
Coverages shown are general examples, not a description of any specific policy. Policy coverages widely vary and should be confirmed with your broker.
Why Cyber Insurance Matters
The damage from a cyber incident reaches well past the break-in itself. Lawsuits, government penalties, harm to your reputation, and time offline all add up fast. In Canada, if a breach could seriously harm the people affected, you have to tell them and report it to the privacy regulator and keep records of it, and Alberta businesses have the same kind of duty under provincial privacy law. Having a policy in place means you have the money and the experts to respond quickly, recover, and keep your customers' trust.
How Pricing Works
What drives your premium
- The data you holdHow many personal or payment records you store, and how sensitive they are. Payment card data, Social Insurance Numbers, and health information cost far more to insure than a customer mailing list, because telling everyone affected is expensive.
- Your security controlsThe biggest lever you have. An extra login step beyond a password, backups that you have actually tested by restoring them, keeping software patched, and staff trained to spot a phishing email are what most insurers now require before they will quote at all.
- Revenue and industryLarger revenue means a bigger potential loss, and some sectors are simply targeted more. Professional firms, health-related businesses, and anyone taking payments online sit higher on the list.
- How much downtime would cost youIf your business stops earning the moment your systems go down, the lost-income part of the policy is doing more work, and it is priced that way. Most policies also only start paying after a short waiting period.
- The limits and add-ons you chooseYour overall limit, plus the capped amounts set for ransomware and for the scam coverage that responds when staff are tricked into sending money. Those caps are usually well below your main limit.
- Your deductibleThe amount you cover yourself on each incident. Taking on more of the first dollars lowers the premium, which is a reasonable trade if you have the cash to absorb a small event.
- Past incidentsAny breach, ransomware event, or fraudulent payment in recent years raises the price, and insurers will ask what you changed afterward. A clean history with strong controls is what earns the best terms.
Frequently asked questions.
What does cyber insurance cover?
It covers both your own losses and claims from others after a cyber incident: responding to a breach and telling customers, ransomware demands, income lost while your systems are down, getting your data back, and legal and government costs. It also covers claims from clients affected by a breach that started in your systems.
My business is small. Am I really a target?
Yes. Attackers use automated tools and often go after smaller businesses precisely because their defences are lighter. Any business that takes payments, stores personal information, or relies on computers to operate is at risk, and a breach can hit a small business proportionally harder than a large one.
Does cyber insurance cover ransomware?
Usually yes. Most policies cover ransomware: the specialist team that responds, negotiating and paying the demand where the law allows, and the income and recovery costs from the downtime it causes. The details vary, so we will confirm exactly how ransomware is handled in the policy we set up for you.
Isn't cyber already covered by my other policies?
Rarely. Standard property and general liability policies increasingly leave cyber events out, and where they respond at all, the coverage is thin. Cyber insurance exists because these risks, from stolen data to ransomware to being knocked offline, fall outside regular policies. We will review what you have and show you the gap.
Do I need strong security to get cyber coverage?
Increasingly, yes. A few basics, especially an extra login step beyond a password and regular, tested backups, are now things most insurers expect before they will offer coverage, and you have to actually keep up the safeguards you tell them you have. Good security also lowers your price and improves your terms, and we will walk you through what insurers look for before you apply.
Does cyber insurance cover scams that trick my staff into sending money?
Often, but usually as a specific add-on rather than part of the base policy, and typically with a capped amount and conditions such as confirming payment or banking-change requests by a callback. This overlaps with commercial crime insurance, so we will confirm where a scam that fools your staff into sending money is best covered.
Shield Your Business from Cyber Risk
Our team is ready to find the right coverage at the right price. Get a tailored quote today.